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Pentagon Says Cloud Contest Winner Only Guaranteed Two-Year Job

(Bloomberg) -- The eventual winner of the Pentagon’s two-year contract to provide extensive cloud services isn’t a lock to be awarded two extensions that would add eight more years, spokeswoman Dana White said.

“I want to separate fact from fiction -- what it is, and what it is not,” White told reporters at the Pentagon on Thursday “That means the initial contract award is only two years. It is not a 10-year contract.”

Rival contractors are complaining that the Defense Department’s winner-take-all approach for the cloud contract favors Amazon.com Inc., the biggest supplier of such services. They’ve said there’s little chance the department will start all over with a new provider after the initial two years.

Companies that win defense competitions with options usually are awarded the extensions. “Not for this, not for this,” White said in an interview, adding that “there needs to be some clarification” because of the “drama” over the cloud contract.